Omega Speedmaster 'Speedy Tuesday' Limited Edition

A hashtag on a Tuesday

In May 2012 the Dutch watch writer Robert-Jan Broer took a photo of the Omega Speedmaster Professional on his wrist, posted it on Facebook and wrote two words under it: 'Speedy Tuesday.' It happened to be a Tuesday. He soon realized it could be a recurring feature on his watch blog. At first the Speedy Tuesday articles ran every three weeks or once a month, but they quickly became weekly.

The phrase moved to Instagram as #SpeedyTuesday, used not only by Broer's team but by Speedmaster owners everywhere. By January 2017 his blog had published almost 250 Speedy Tuesday articles, and the hashtag had been used more than 41,000 times on Instagram by the Speedmaster community.

For the fifth anniversary, Omega turned the hashtag into a watch. Broer's announcement on January 10, 2017, stressed that his site would receive none of the proceeds: the watch was pitched as made 'by watch fans for watch fans,' a celebration of a community that had grown up online around one chronograph.

The NASA watch behind the dial

The design borrowed from one of the most obscure Speedmasters, the 'Alaska Project III.' Omega's Alaska projects were development programs that began in secret meetings with NASA engineers in Houston in the late 1960s, aimed at building the ultimate space watch. The third version used a radial dial, chosen by NASA engineer James H. Ragan because he found its layout more legible, and a case blasted with microbeads to cut glare that could bother astronauts.

The Alaska III also had to clear politics. American watchmakers had pressed NASA to issue domestic chronographs, so for the Space Shuttle program's 1978 solicitation Omega had the cases made by a manufacturer in Michigan, which brought the American share of the watch past the required minimum. In environmental tests against Bulova, NASA again found the Speedmaster superior, and the radial-dial watch became the first Alaska project to be flight-qualified.

NASA ordered 56 examples, then placed a second, smaller order. According to Omega's museum director, these watches were used on Space Shuttle missions until NASA began receiving Speedmaster X-33 models in the late 1990s, and they stayed in active inventory for years after that. The anniversary watch's caseback spells out the debt: 'A TRIBUTE TO ALASKA PROJECT III.'

What makes it different from a Moonwatch

The Speedy Tuesday is built on the standard 42 mm Speedmaster Professional: steel case, black tachymeter bezel, domed hesalite crystal and the hand-wound caliber 1861. What changes is nearly everything you see. The dial is a 'reverse panda,' black with white opaline-silver subdials, a layout Omega had used as early as 1966 but never on a Speedmaster Professional. The subdial numerals run radially around each register, as on the Alaska III.

The subdials and the dial printing are luminous, a first for the Professional, and the small subdial hands are black so they stay readable. The logo at 12 o'clock is an applied, old-style Omega logo, and the crown carries the old logo too. The whole case, including bezel, pushers and crown, is brushed, with none of the polished bevels of the regular Moonwatch.

The screw-in caseback always sits in the same position so its text lines up. It carries the Seahorse medallion, 'SPEEDY TUESDAY ANNIVERSARY,' 'Limited Edition,' 'A TRIBUTE TO ALASKA PROJECT III,' the edition number out of 2012, and the word 'RADIAL' around the rim. Buyers could choose which number they wanted.

The watch shipped on a vintage-cut brown leather strap in a leather watch roll that also held a black-and-white striped NATO strap and a strap-changing tool. One keeper on the NATO strap is laser-engraved #SpeedyTuesday.

Four hours, fifteen minutes

Omega had never sold a watch online and had never used a social platform as a selling tool. The Speedy Tuesday was showcased on the brand's Instagram account, and buyers clicked through to a dedicated page on Omega's website to reserve one. Deliveries were promised for the summer of 2017.

Within two days of the announcement, Omega confirmed that all 2,012 pieces had been claimed 4 hours, 15 minutes and 43 seconds after the Instagram pre-order push began. One watch magazine called the result 'frankly, unprecedented' for a watch.

The published launch prices do not agree. Broer's launch article gave 5,400 Swiss francs before Swiss sales tax; another launch report gave 5,300 euros including VAT; a third listed $6,500, 5,400 euros, 5,800 Swiss francs and about 4,100 pounds. The U.S. figure of $6,500 is the one used in the price history below.

A template for the next one

In July 2018 Omega and Broer's blog released a second Speedy Tuesday, the 'Ultraman,' a tribute to a Speedmaster variant with an orange chronograph hand that took its nickname from an appearance in the 1971 Japanese TV series 'The Return of Ultraman.' It was also limited to 2,012 pieces, priced at $7,100 against $5,250 for a standard Speedmaster Professional, and Omega said every one was reserved in exactly 1 hour, 53 minutes and 17 seconds.

On the secondary market the first Speedy Tuesday traded above its launch price within two years. In November 2018 a complete example with its straps, roll and papers sold for $8,750 in an online auction run from New York. In October 2026 a full-set example made in 2017 was offered for sale at 14,790 euros, about $17,127.

Omega's run of Speedmaster limited editions has drawn complaints from the start; readers commenting on the launch coverage already said there were too many. But the Speedy Tuesday proved something new: a community that formed around a hashtag could sell out a Swiss watch in an afternoon, with no boutique involved.

The numbers

Reference

311.32.42.30.01.001

Caliber

Omega 1861, hand-wound chronograph

Case

Stainless steel, 42 mm, fully brushed, 20 mm lugs, hesalite crystal, 50 m water resistance

Dial

Black reverse panda, luminous radial subdials, applied old-style logo

Production

2,012 numbered pieces, announced January 2017, delivered from summer 2017

Follow-up

Speedy Tuesday 2 'Ultraman' (2018), also 2,012 pieces

Timeline

1. 1966

   Omega uses a 'reverse panda' dial layout, though not on a Speedmaster Professional.

2. 1978

   Omega submits the radial-dial Alaska Project III Speedmaster to NASA's Space Shuttle solicitation; NASA orders 56.

3. May 2012

   Robert-Jan Broer posts a Speedmaster wrist photo on Facebook captioned 'Speedy Tuesday.'

4. Jan 10, 2017

   Omega announces the Speedmaster Speedy Tuesday Limited Edition, 2,012 pieces, sold only online.

5. Jan 2017

   All 2,012 pieces are claimed 4 hours, 15 minutes and 43 seconds after the Instagram pre-order push.

6. Jan 12, 2017

   Press reports carry Omega's confirmation of the sell-out time.

7. 2017

   Deliveries to buyers are scheduled for the summer.

8. Jul 10, 2018

   The second collaboration, the Speedy Tuesday 'Ultraman,' is fully reserved in 1 hour, 53 minutes and 17 seconds.

9. Nov 7, 2018

   A complete example sells for $8,750 in an online auction run from New York.

10. Oct 2026

    A full-set 2017 example is offered for sale at 14,790 euros, about $17,127.

The world in 2017

• Mar 3, 2017

  Nintendo releases the Switch worldwide.

• Mar 30, 2017

  SpaceX conducts the first reflight of an orbital-class rocket.

• May 12, 2017

  The WannaCry ransomware attack hits computers around the world.

• Aug 21, 2017

  A total solar eclipse, the 'Great American Eclipse,' crosses the United States.

• Sep 15, 2017

  The Cassini spacecraft ends its 13-year mission at Saturn by plunging into the planet.

• Sep 26, 2017

  Fortnite Battle Royale is released.

• Dec 14, 2017

  Disney announces it will acquire most of 21st Century Fox.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Omega Speedmaster 'Speedy Tuesday' Limited Edition is number 85 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (55 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The whole thing started with a Facebook post, not an Instagram post.
• The edition size of 2,012 is the year the hashtag was born.
• It was the first watch Omega ever sold online.
• The 1978 Alaska III watch it honors had American-made cases so it could meet NASA's domestic-content rules.
• Buyers could pick the number engraved on their caseback.
• The follow-up 'Ultraman' hides a silhouette of the TV hero in a subdial that only shows under UV light, and its strap tool has a UV light on one end.